As the complexity of electronic equipment, especially computer-controlled or microprocessor-based, equipment, evolves, the requirements associated to testing such equipment escalate. Consequently, the direct and indirect costs of necessary test operations become a significant component of the cost of manufacturing or repairing the equipment. Testing costs may be manifest in numerous ways: the cost of acquiring and maintaining test equipment and test systems; the time occupied in performing testing procedures; and, less frequently recognized, the amount of manufacturing floor space occupied by the test equipment and system.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a testing apparatus and method that readily accommodate the testing of various kinds of electronic equipment.
It is another object of this invention that the testing take advantage of proven, required or available automated test equipment (ATE).
It is a further object of this invention that the expense of acquiring and maintaining test equipment be minimized.